Joseph Andrews

By: Henry Fielding

Narrated by: John Telfer

In one of the first novels in the English language, we follow the picaresque adventures of Joseph Andrews, a virtuous young man who is keen to maintain his innocence despite being coerced by nearly every woman he encounters.

The episodic journey sees him travel home to London with his tutor, Parson Adams, as he heads to find his sweetheart, Fanny. Much mayhem ensues along the way as they become embroiled in a series of escapades and slapstick brawls.

Fielding is an expert satirist, and through the many twists and turns of narration he combines high and low literature and high and low humor to create a wittily funny novel that he aptly named a "comic epic poem in prose".

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2015 Naxos AudioBooks

Action and Ideas

What sets the 18th Century novel apart from its 19th and 20th Century cousins—or at least what sets it apart for me—is the rapidity of the action, untrammeled by intricate descriptions of interior décor, the sunset outside, or other literary impedimenta. Years ago, while recovering from the flu, I read Smollett’s Roderick Random at one sitting.

Similarly, when ideas make an appearance they are handled just as directly; either with a prefatory essay-chapter for each new book of the story, or in set-piece debates among the characters. It’s not a better way of telling a tale, but it can seem, at least to this listener, a refreshingly honest, no-nonsense way to go about it.

Hence my utter enjoyment of Joseph Andrews. Fielding assumes you already know what an upper- or lower-class home would look like. His characters don't personify ideas; they're mouthpieces for them. Add the author’s sincere humanity (far less cloying than Dickens) and his humor that can be aimed at anyone, including his heroes and heroines, and you have a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Though I’ve always (probably mistakenly) considered this novel a warm-up for Fielding’s tour de force, Tom Jones, it stands on its own, even if one has never read Richardson’s Pamela (which I have not).

John Telfer, whom I’ve only recently encountered in his recordings of Leslie Charteris’ Simon Templar adventures, does a bang-up job here, reading with what another reviewer has called, “just the right tone”. He gets every urbane nuance and off-color innuendo and expresses each to a nicety.

Lve doesn't run smoothly but it's worth the wait

Hilarious story filled with every unimaginable adventure possible. I laughed out loud and wondered how it could end well.

As expected good narrator

Long book but worth it. Classic and well worth the time spent listening. Good read

A peek into English life in the 1740s 

The book starts out with Joseph Andrews, who is a foot man in the house of Lord and Lady booby. Joseph gets dismissed from his position as footman, because he refuses the advances of lady booby, who is a very conniving and odious woman. After being dismissed from his position, he heads toward London, where he needs help with his friend. Parson Adams and a little bit later his love interest, Fanny. On their journey to London they sometimes travel and stage coaches, the most often on foot they stop in our houses and ends, and then all such places they meet different people one or two of them are good and noble, but most of the people they meet are hypocrites idiots and fools. 

A delight

Henry Fielding is a delight, and John Telfer's narration hits just the right tone, for the narrative as a whole and for each of the characters: the likeable and virtuous Joseph, the well-meaning but bumbling Parson Adams, and the malicious pair Lady Booby and Mistress Slipslop. It resembles Tom Jones in that the story is loosely built on the frame of a journey to London: many interesting characters are met along the way, and some of them, as in Don Quixote, tell their own stories in charming digressions. The tone is light, the characters engaging, and the ending a happy one. I smiled throughout and laughed out loud more than once.

A perfect book and an excellent reader

Any additional comments?

I love this book. We do not wear nightcaps, but we have the same follies as characters in this book. Published in 1742, it is about us. The reader is excellent.

The meandering story is not the point…

… instead, this picaresque gem is a celebration of vocabulary and language, a paean to elegant expression and a specie of eloquence now lamentably extinct. Humorous, engaging and a -perhaps an unconscious reproach to the rest of us who would pretend mastery of English Diction - I stand in awe of Fielding’s pen. Additional Kudos to John Telfer whose range and narration is exemplary.

1001 Books

I sometimes wonder why these people choose such books that you must read before you die. I got nothing remotely Life changing out of this book And never even caught my interest But I read it because I'm a completest and I have to read as many books as possible to complete that 1001 books list. It's Done and now I move on.